The present invention generally relates to electrical connectivity and, more particularly, electrical connectivity between electrical hubs. Most particularly, the present invention relates to electrical connectivity between stacked universal serial bus (USB) electrical hubs and stacked FireWire electrical hubs.
Electrical hubs for interconnecting portions of an electrical network are known. More recently, however, electrical hubs have been introduced for interconnecting portions of the electrical network where the electrical hubs are stacked upon one another. In some configurations, stacking of the electrical hubs provides simple and convenient mechanical and, possibly, electrical attachment. Often, stacked electrical hubs are not housed within an added enclosure.
Also, where no hardware is required to house the stackable electrical hubs, network cables are laced freely going to and coming from the stackable electrical hubs, where the network cables are easily attached to mating connectors provided on the stackable electrical hubs.
The electrical networks that employ electrical hubs typically are computer systems that interconnect computers, network hardware, and input/output computer devices. The data standards that are transmitted between the different portions of the electrical networks have varied widely, as has the different types of equipment that were serviced by the electrical networks. Currently, however, two very common types of electrical network data standards have emerged. These electrical network standards are the universal serial bus (USB) standard and the FireWire standard. FireWire is a registered trademark of Apple Computer Corporation of Cupertino, Calif.
The USB standard was conceived in 1993 by a consortium of computer industry companies, whose goal was to create a common means for communicating between the personal computer (PC) and its supported electronic devices. The consortium also wanted the USB standard to perform in a plug-and-play manner, which would minimize hardware and software setup. Further, the data throughput of the USB standard was expected to he compatible with that of the bandwidth of the supported electronic devices.
As the bandwidth of the supported electronic devices increased so did the need for the throughput of the USB standard. Faster versions of the USB standard were implemented and even faster versions are currently being developed. Presently, the USB is available on all PC's and many electronic devices have USB capability.
In about the same time frame that the development of the USB standard was occurring, the development of the FireWire standard, which is also known as the IEEE 1394 standard, was also taking place. The FireWire standard, however, was associated with Apple computers. In general, the FireWire standard process is a higher throughput and the supported electronic devices, typically, had greater bandwidth than their USB counterparts.
As in the case of the USB standard, the bandwidth of the FireWire supported electronic devices increased, and consequently, so did the need for the throughput of the FireWire standard. As a result, faster versions of the FireWire standard were implemented and even faster versions are presently being developed. Currently the FireWire standard is available on all Apple computers and some PCs, while many electronic devices have adopted FireWire capability.
Part of the development of both the USB and FireWire standards has involved the cables and their associated connectors that interconnect the varying computers and supported electronic devices. The standard cables and connectors that have resulted from the development of the USB and the FireWire standards provide easy connectivity to, from, and between the computers, hubs, and supported electronic devices.
Regardless of the data standard, be it USB, FireWire, or other standards that are employed by stacked electrical hubs, the current cables that interconnect stacked electrical hubs are, typically long. Since stacked electrical hubs provide no outer housing to visually and/or physically contain the maze of interconnecting stacked electrical hub cables, the area around the stacked electrical hubs can be cluttered.
In addition, a connector on a current interconnecting cable, which loops from one stacked electrical hub no another, for example, in a daisy chain manner, can get pulled away from its mating connector on the stacked electrical hub by a variety of means. Also, the interconnecting cable connectors and their mating electrical hub connectors can become damaged and/or the continuity of their connection can be disrupted, which could result in a malfunction of the computer system. Further, because of the length of the current interconnecting hub cables, the amount of material and associated costs need to be considered.
In conjunction with being long, current interconnecting cables that are employed between stacked electrical hubs are typically made of pliable plastic, which makes them susceptible to being cut, pinched, or damaged. As a result, the continuity within the current interconnecting cables can be disrupted, which too could result in a computer system malfunction.
Thus those skilled in the art continued to seek a solution to the problem of how to provide a better interconnecting cable between stacked electrical hubs.